I took this Friday off work on a whim before my AZ trip the next week. I was hoping to find this species at this complex of reserves and the day looked perfect. The stars were definitely aligned this day! Unfortunately (;-) my search for this species was interrupted by the Dasylechia landing on me in the front reserve shortly after I arrived. Had to spend a bit of time with that one as well as looking for more of those. So my time searching for this species this day was a bit shorter than I would have liked.

There were a whole lot of yellowjackets out at the time and they tend to land and sit on low vegetation as well. So you go a little batty trying to pick something like this from all the yellowjackets (and syrphids). There is actually a yellowjacket nest in the ground relatively close to where this individual was encountered. At one point I briefly saw either a yellowjacket or one of these carry a prey item up into some overhead branches. Now that I know the spot I'll definitely be spending more time there! What's great is that it's only like 15 minutes from my apartment.